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Health Ministry today clarified that media reports alleging that mortality due to COVID in India is much higher than the official count and actual numbers have been undercounted are fallacious and completely inaccurate. It said these are not based on facts and are speculative in nature. The media reports were based on a published research paper. The study estimated that people between 3.2 million to 3.7 million have died from COVID by early November last year in the country, as compared to official figures of Nov 2021 of 4.6 lakhs.
Health Ministry stated that India has a robust system of reporting deaths including COVID deaths that is compiled regularly at different levels of governance starting from the Gram Panchayat level to the District level and State level. The reporting of deaths is regularly done in a transparent manner.
The Ministry said all deaths are compiled by the Centre after being independently reported by states. Based on globally acceptable categorization, Government has a comprehensive definition to classify COVID deaths which has been shared with the States and the States are following it.
The Centre has been urging States to update their mortality numbers. Health Ministry reiterated that the Union Government has followed a transparent approach regarding COVID data management and a robust system of recording all COVID-19 related deaths already exists.
